09/01/2020
Telecom sector partners are cooperating to ensure the availability of mobile services when the road is open for traffic
90 per
cent of the Sharqiyah Expressway will be covered by basic mobile (voice)
services
20 additional
mobile communication stations to provide high-speed Internet services along the
road
As part of its ongoing efforts to ensure the provision of telecom services
in infrastructural projects across the Sultanate, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA),
headed by its CEO H.E. Dr. Hamed bin Salim Al
Rawahi, had undertaken a field visit recently along with the sector
partners Oman Tower Company, Oman Broadband Company, Omantel, Ooredoo and Vodafone to learn about the
needs of this road in terms of
communication services and to complement the implementation of its plan to provide mobile network coverage
(basic voice service and mobile Internet) for this vitally important project.
The plan also involves providing network
coverage inside the tunnels and finding
solutions to challenges related
to geographical conditions , which may affect the service quality in a road
that is important for the economic and
tourism activities in the Sultanate.
To complement the implementation of what was
agreed upon during the visit, TRA held a meeting with business partners headed
by Eng. Yousuf bin Abdullah Al Balushi,
Vice President for Spectrum Affairs, to discuss urgent solutions and
define the roles of each party and expedite the implementation of services
before opening of the road. Eng. Yousuf thanked all telecom sector partners,
including telecommunications service providers, Ministry of Transport and
the implementing company for the project
, for their eagerness to implement the coverage plans.
By the end of this month , 90 per cent of
the Sharqiyah Expressway will be covered by basic mobile (voice) services in
most of its parts. The telecom companies will provide urgent solutions to cover
the tunnels by installing external communication stations on both sides of each
tunnel to ensure the availability of the service when the road is open for
traffic.
The TRA is working with telecom
partners to improve the current coverage on the Sharqiyah Expressway by building 20 additional mobile
communication stations to provide voice and high-speed Internet services. Work
is also underway to implement special global solutions for tunnels' coverage
such as systems that are specifically
designed to suit the nature of the tunnels and can accommodate more than one
service provider.